Skip to content

Tools, Frameworks & Resources

Frameworks and tools to help you grow at each level.

Career Planning Frameworks

The 5-Year Plan (Update Yearly)

Year 1: - Goal: (e.g., "Reach Senior Engineer level") - Key milestones: Own feature, mentor someone, 360 review - Learning: Specific book/skill - Evaluation: How will we know you've succeeded?

Year 2: - Building on Year 1...

Year 3–5: - Bigger goals, longer timeframe

Template to use annually:

Current Level: ___
Target Level in 5 years: ___
Why: ___

Year 1 goal: ___
Milestones: ___
Books/skills: ___

Year 2 goal: ___
[etc.]

The 5x5x5 Framework

Evaluate yourself every 5 months on 5 dimensions, 5-point scale:

Dimension 1 2 3 4 5
Technical skills Struggling Basic Competent Advanced Expert
Communication Unclear Mostly clear Clear Influential Thought leader
Mentoring None Occasional Regular Structured Multiplier
Business acumen Clueless Aware Aligned Strategic Visionary
Leadership None Emergent Demonstrated Consistent Org-wide

Track over time. Where are you growing? Where are you stuck?

Self-Assessment Tools

The T-Shaped Engineer

Your skills should look like a T:

        ▲
        │ Breadth: Know a little about many things
        │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
        └─┴─┴─┴─┴─┴─┴─┴─┴─┴─ Languages, frameworks, databases, etc.
         │
         │ Depth: Expert in 1–2 domains
         │
         ▼ This T-shape is ideal

Good: Frontend, Backend, Databases, DevOps, etc. (breadth) + Deep in Databases (depth)
Bad: Expert in 10 languages but can't architect a system (all breadth)
Bad: Ultra-deep in one area but can't talk to other teams (all depth)

Action: Where are you weak? Breadth or depth?

The Self-Assessment Scorecard

Rate yourself 1–5 on your target role's requirements. Identify gaps.

For Senior Engineer:

Skill 1 2 3 4 5 Gap
System design ✓ Need: deeper understanding of distributed systems
Technical judgment ✓ Good
Cross-team influence ✓ Need: more visibility, bigger projects
Mentoring ✓ Need: more structured mentoring
Business acumen ✓ Good

Frameworks for Career Conversations

1:1 Meeting Template (Monthly with Manager)

1. How am I doing on my current goals?
   - Am I on track for promotion?

2. What's one thing I'm doing well?
   - What should I double down on?

3. What's one area to improve?
   - How do I get better?

4. What's blocking me or exciting me?
   - How can you help?

5. What do you need from me?

Annual Promotion Readiness Check

3 months before target promotion:

Level I'm targeting: ___

What I've demonstrated:
- ✓ Scope (show examples)
- ✓ Independence
- ✓ Influence
- ✓ Quality
- ✓ Business acumen

What I still need to show:
- Missing area 1: Plan to demonstrate
- Missing area 2: Plan to demonstrate

Timeline: When will I have proof?

Negotiation Frameworks

Salary Negotiation (Rule of Thumb)

Data gathering: 1. Get market data: levels.fyi, Glassdoor, blind.com 2. Know your worth: years, experience, company stage 3. Consider: Cost of living, total comp (stock/bonus), growth

Negotiation: 1. Get offer in writing 2. Ask for 24 hours to consider 3. If you want to negotiate: - > "I appreciate the offer. Based on market data and my experience, I was expecting $X" - Be specific with number - Don't accept first offer (they expect negotiation) 4. Be prepared to walk away if they won't budge

Red flags: - ❌ They say "we don't negotiate" - ❌ They lowball significantly - ❌ They pressure you to decide immediately

Leadership Frameworks

Radical Candor 2x2

From Kim Scott's "Radical Candor":

                Care Personally (vertical axis)
                      HIGH
         ╔═════════════════════════════╗
         ║  RADICAL               JUST  ║
    HIGH ║  CANDOR           RUINOUS   ║
         ║                    EMPATHY  ║
         ║            ↑                 ║
         ║        Challenge             ║
      A  ║        Directly             ║
    C    ║                              ║
    H    ║        Criticize            ║
    I    ║        Personally            ║
    R    ║            ↓                 ║
         ║                              ║
    L    ║  OBNOXIOUS          RUINOUS  ║
E   O    ║  AGGRESSION         SOFTNESS ║
    W    ║                              ║
         ╚═════════════════════════════╝
                  LOW         HIGH ←
               Challenge Directly
               (vertical axis)

Radical Candor = High on both axes - Care personally (genuine interest) - Challenge directly (honest feedback)

How to apply: - Give feedback quickly - Be specific with example - Show you care about their growth - Listen to their perspective - Follow up

Code Review Frameworks

The Good Code Review

1. Run the code (does it work?)
2. Read the code (is it clear?)
3. Consider maintainability (will junior understand this in 6 months?)
4. Check tests (covered adequately?)
5. Look for bugs (security, performance, edge cases?)

Give feedback:
- ✓ Celebrate good code
- ? Ask questions ("Have you considered...?")
- ! Flag issues ("This could fail if...") 
- Follow up ("Does this help?" "Any questions?")

OKR Framework (Goal Setting)

Objective: What do we want to achieve? (qualitative)
Example: "Build world-class observability"

Key Results: How will we know we succeeded? (quantitative, 3-5 per objective)
Example:
- Reduce MTTR (Mean Time to Repair) by 50%
- 95% of deployments have full tracing
- Observability onboarding time < 1 day

Quarterly cadence:
- Q1: Plan OKRs
- Monthly: Check-ins
- Q-end: Reflection & next quarter planning

Tools & Resources

Career Tracking

Learning Management

Networking

Evaluation & Feedback

  • 360 Review template: Ask managers, peers, reports: "What am I good at? Where do I need to grow?"
  • CultureAmp: Employee feedback platform
  • Self-reflection: Journal monthly on growth

Books & Learning

Company-Specific Resources

Check These When Evaluating a Company

Career progression: - Does the company have defined levels? (Ask to see leveling doc) - How often do people get promoted? - Are there staff engineer roles? (IC track signal)

Compensation: - Levels.fyi data for your role/company - Blind data (anonymous salary data) - Ask current employees

Culture: - Glassdoor / Blind reviews (take with grain of salt) - "How is the relationship between engineering and product?" - "What's one thing you'd change about the engineering culture?" - "How much does management respect engineering?"

Learning & Growth: - "Is there a learning budget?" (How much? How used?) - "Do people go to conferences?" - "Are there internal training/workshops?" - "Is there a mentorship program?"

Templates to Steal

Career Planning Document

# My 5-Year Plan

## Current State
- Level: ___
- Company: ___
- Comp: ___
- Skills strengths: ___
- Skills gaps: ___

## Year 5 Goal
- Target level: ___
- Target company: ___
- Target comp: ___
- Why: ___

## Year 1 Plan
[fill in...]

## Success Metrics (How will I know I'm on track?)
[fill in...]

Mentor Conversation Guide

# Questions for My Mentor

1. What was your career path from [my level] to [target level]?
2. What did you struggle with at my level?
3. What surprised you about [target role]?
4. What should I learn/practice now?
5. What books shaped your thinking?
6. What's one piece of advice you'd give?
7. Who else should I talk to?
Should I use all these frameworks?

No. Pick 2–3 that resonate. Frameworks are tools, not rules.

Where can I find these templates?

[This site will provide downloadable versions] or create your own in Notion/Docs.

How often should I revisit these?

Quarterly (every 3 months). Career progress isn't linear; adjust as you learn.

Tools are helpful, but they're no substitute for honest reflection and action.